Orderville Canyon, Zion National Park - When the Zion Narrows are only a side part of your trip
Orderville Canyon kind of happened as an afterthought. You see, when I was hiking the Grand Canyon with my friend Clint, we decided that we would try to make future plans to visit the Zion Subway. The Zion Subway is a beautiful canyon that is very beginner friendly. You see, Clint has never canyoneered before. So, with some other experienced canyoneers (Nick and Tina), we could safely bring Clint through the Subway on his first canyoneering trip.
The Subway, however, is very popular and permits are hard to get; Zion National Park uses a lottery system and you only get chosen with a lot of luck.
But I won and the trip was on.
Traveling all the way to Zion for a single canyon seemed like a waste of a trip, so the hunt was on for a second hike. That's when I remembered Orderville Canyon. Orderville is another technical canyoneering route, but one that is fairly beginner friendly. People can walk partway up Orderville from the Zion Narrows, but they eventually come to obstacles they can't climb and have to turn around. You can run the canyon from the top down with the appropriate gear, adding a lot to the trip, but not nearly as many people canyoneer as hike. Then there is the philosophy of most canyoneers: do the technical section of the canyon and get back to your car as quickly as possible.
Most canyoneers are there for the technical challenge and don't enjoy hiking at all. And Orderville involves low technical challenge and a lot of hiking. So not being accessible to hikers and being less appealing to canyoneers made it easy to get permits. It also made it perfect for this trip since Tina and I are hikers first and canyoneers second. And Clint had never been canyoneering. Nick, being a canyoneering purist just had to put up with it if he wanted that extra spot to do the Subway.
And Orderville Canyon is amazing. The challenges are just hard enough to keep you on your toes. The dry upper section has deep slot sections. And then the water starts running in the canyon and the fun and beauty really begin. There were a lot of smiling faces on this trip, and I think I said "wow" about 100 times.
Well, for most of it. Eventually we came to spots where we had to swim. For some reason everyone decided that although we were all carrying wetsuits we didn't need to wear them. So by the time we met up with the Zion Narrows, Tina's fingers were white and everyone was a little cold. Luckily I had a large neoprene jacket she could put on easily (it's no fun putting on a full wetsuit when you're already wet) so she was able to manage.
It was a relatively short hike down the narrows to get back to the truck. This section was crowded, but not nearly as much as I've seen in the past. So it was a great bonus to also see the Zion Narrows at the end of the trip.
Then it was back to the car and off to get burgers at this little joint Nick knew about called Buffalo Trails Trading Company in Virgin, UT. Great place, great food, fun owner and amazing desserts.
Finally, we made our way back to camp to get some rest and hit up the Subway the next day.
I absolutely loved Orderville Canyon. Once again, Zion National Park blew my mind.
Music by Epidemic Sound;
We Are Giants - Silver Maple
Amber Pull - Trevor Kowalski
Paradigm Shift - Gavin Luke
Anywhere but Here - Easton
(Stay) True - Lars Eriksson
Aeroplane - Bothnia